Page 14 of Marrying the Underboss

Fuck.

“I’m going to need to tell the school I won’t be back for a while. I don’t want them to worry about me. What should I tell them?” She asks while staring at the window.

“You can’t tell them.”

She sits up and turns to face me. “What do you mean I can’t tell them? I can’t just leave them hanging.”

“How are you going to call them? Email them? You have no phone.”

Her eyes narrow on me. “I’m sure you have something I can use. A phone or something.”

I tip my head to the side. “I do, but I won’t let you.”

“You won’t let me?” She snaps. She might not be in ‘the life’ but she looks exactly like her dad does right before he kills a man.

“What are you going to tell them? Who knows how long we’ll be gone. And what if fuck boy goes snooping around to ask if they’ve heard from you? It’s better that you say nothing at all. You can fix things when we get back.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know when that will be. How long is it going to take Kane, a week? A month?”

“I already told you, I don’t know.” I snap at her. I don’t mean to, but I’m pissed. Not at her. Jennifer’s reaction is completely normal, considering everything. No, I’m pissed that I can’t give her the one thing she craves. Normalcy.

I try reaching out, but she’s already scooted across the vehicle, hugging the passenger side. She feels further away fromme than she ever has. I watch as a single tear falls down her cheek. When I go to wipe it away, she stiffens. “Don’t touch me.”

I drop my hand immediately. She wants to be pissed? Fine. She can be pissed. I’ve never seen this side of Jennifer but it’s fucking hot. I almost want to piss her off more to see what she’ll do. Let’s see how she reacts later on tonight.

Chapter Nine

JENNIFER

We’ve been drivingfor what feels like forever. We’ve stopped a couple of times to get gas and food but I haven’t been hungry. Kane asked me what I wanted but I just sat there and ignored the brute. I don’t want to say anything to him. I’m acting like a child, but I don’t care. At this point I do feel like I’ve been kidnapped and it’s not as fun and sexy as I thought it was before.

Damn it, I did it again. I got swept up in the fairytale and went along with a man without seeing things for as they really were. How could I be this naive at twenty-six years old? Kane’s a killer. The second in command for my dad’s organization. He does illegal things every single day. What did I think was going to happen when he took me from my home? I looked at him with stars in my eyes and a schoolgirl crush. Then he touched me in ways I’ve never been touched and made me feel special. I’m a fool.

My dad owns several car-washing businesses, a gentleman’s club, a bar, and some rental properties. He’s a busy man, but he has businesses to make our lives look believable. I don’t know exactly what my dad does that’s illegal, but I know he makes a lot of money doing it. So does Kane. People they know havegone missing. Sometimes they’ve come up dead. The police and FBI sniff around occasionally, but I’ve never had anything to tell them because I know nothing. I figured that’s how it was with Jacob. He knew there was something going on, but none of the details.

Once this thing with Jacob is finished, I’m leaving town and making a new life for myself, far away from anything to do with Dad, Kane, or New Jersey. I love my dad, but I will love him from a distance.

Eventually after driving for hours, Kane pulls into a hotel. It’s not the nicest place I’ve ever stayed but it’s nicer than most of the places we’ve passed tonight. Kane parks in the drive-through area right in front of the entrance to the hotel. “Sit tight. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

He waits a few seconds for me to respond, but when I don’t, he grunts and closes his door. I watch him enter the hotel and talk with the girl behind the counter. She smiles, and I can’t help but get pissed when it looks like he’s flirting with her. At one point, they look out the window at me, and she smiles like she’s in on the secret. What the hell?

A few minutes later, he comes back out to the SUV and gets in, then drives around to the side of the hotel. We’re parked for a couple of minutes, and Kane just sits there, staring out the window like he’s waiting for something.

“Are we going to go in?” I ask, ready to stretch my legs and use the bathroom.

“Yeah.” He shoves his hand into his pocket and pulls out a diamond ring. “Here, give me your hand.”

My eyes widen as he grabs my left hand and shoves the ring on my ring finger.

“We’re Justin and Kayce Grey. We just eloped.”

I stare down at the beautiful ring in shock. I wore a ring on that finger for years and it meant so much, but in the end so little. “I’m sorry?”

“Something confusing about that?” He asks coldly.

“How about everything?”

“Get over it, princess,” He says, then opens his door and gets out. I, on the other hand, sit there stunned. “Come on, we need to get some sleep so we can get on the road early tomorrow morning.”

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